I was at that point when I realized I had bent tubes. I went thru the whole process of sourcing Supra calipers, an early 80's front end, obtaining FROR's axles and flange, Marlin's outter axle flange, I even had it with the 6pin mod. I put it all together and when I slid the chunk in, I saw I had bent tubes... I was seriously 20 minutes away from wheeling when that zinger was thrown at me (that was 6 months ago
). So I went thru all of the avenues I could think of to get a new axle housing. TAP doesn't get any in that are straight (apparently it's an epidemic) and i was faced with a diamond that was pricey, and no one else i sourced had any 4Runner or early pickup axles available. I also went thru the long education on the fact that a Tacoma rearend isn't the same as a 4Runner rear end (that little bit of education cost me about a month of build time, and $35 in shipping to send the non TRD Tacoma/Tundra rearend, mistakenly known as an 8.4" back to the parts place I bought it from). For $1600 I have a stronger rear axle with all the goodies I'd have had to spend upwards of $3500 for a bombproof 8" and still had a borderline ring and pinion for the weight of my rig, and what I intend to do with it. For a pickup, no problemmo with the 8". With a 3rd gen 4Runner exoed, Sas'ed, and armored to the teeth... I'm voting D60 (Well that's what I'm installing anyway)!!!! I also am putting 4340 chromos in the D44 in front. You might be ahead of the game in weight and clearance with the 8", but the strength and ability to rescue much larger vehicles (Which I do from time to time in Desert Races) with the larger ring n pinion are worth the install of the weight challenged d60, IMHO.
